Allaby took 45 samples from the wounds of the deer carcasses with the aim of testing specifically for DNA from the saliva of any canid (for instance dog or fox) or felid (cat) species which had killed or scavenged from the deer.

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis, EN) is an endemic species found in the Afroalpine ecosystem of the Ethiopian Highlands; with less than 450 individuals in seven small and isolated populations, this wolf is the rarest canid in the world.